Cons:

It's a bit disheartening that an iconic genre that resonates so much in America, the Western, has only a handful of games (much less good ones) to its name. Offhand, we can only immediately rattle off: Outlaws, GUN, Dead Man's Hand, and now Techland's Call of Juarez. While we wish that this latest addition to the very small "western-themed first-person-shooters on the PC" library was a great one, what we get instead is something more akin to "The Quick & The Dead:" a well-meaning but ultimately flawed Western.

Bullets and Bibles

CoJ first puts you in the boots of Billy Candle, a spry young fellow who decides to visit his mother back in his hometown but instead finds himself in a situation where he's standing over the corpse of both his mother and stepfather. Right at that moment, his step-uncle, the Reverend Ray, bursts onto the scene, and naturally assumes that Billy is the killer. As Billy, you're constantly on the run while trying to both prove your innocence and figure out the secret of Juarez (which, of course, is the traditional Western trope: hidden Mexican gold). Yet, to complement Billy's fugitive run, you also play as the Reverend Ray himself: a curious combination of Jack Palance's looks, a "fire and brimstone" preacher's opinions (we spotted an alternate translation of Ezekiel 25:17, the vengeance-filled verse popularized by Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction), and the Saint-Of-Killers' lethality with guns. You alternate between these two protagonists during CoJ's fifteen episodes.

Playing as Billy Candle is actually quite a surprise from what you might expect of a western-themed FPS. Since Billy is on the lam, his levels tend to be stealth-based affairs. There's a pretty rudimentary detection system (crouch in the bushes and your eye icon lights up to let you know that baddies can't see you), and Billy is also quite fragile. You'll get a couple of guns on occasion and even a bow and arrow, but in general, you spend more time hiding than shooting. Finally, when you're not busy sitting in the bushes waiting for that one guy to walk away, you're using your whip to latch into conveniently-placed protrusions which you then either use to hoist yourself up or swing across an inconveniently-placed gap.

Wnat's a Western without a horse chase?

While Billy's levels are filled with lots of ducking and jumping, the Reverend's are filled with one basic action: shooting. As the Reverend chases Billy and, as expected, learns of the true circumstance behind the misperceived murder, he simply shoots up whatever is in his way. What he lacks in stealth, he makes up for in firepower and durability (he wears a freakin' Spanish cuirass for protection). Additionally, he possesses the Concentration skill, where if his guns are holstered, he will enter a sort of bullet-time trance when he draws them, giving him a precious few seconds to unload upon anyone on-screen (see video below). Finally, he also tends to duel big bosses, where you slowly move your mouse down and then up to simulate going into your holster and drawing your pistol up during a showdown.

It's the Reverend's levels that shine in particular. Straightforward action combined with the right touch of over-the-top, Biblical-fury-infused dialogue (in fact, the Bible itself can be used as a weapon, to give a sermon that stuns nearby enemies and therefore makes them easy targets) makes the Reverend a compelling character to play. Though, his Concentration skill is a bit easy to exploit, as it recharges a little fast, so all you really need to do is back up a bit and holster your guns in-between Concentration-bursts. Despite how easy it is to use Concentration, that doesn't hamper the Reverend's generally enjoyable gameplay too much.